11 in 13 — including 8 in a row

Russell joined the Celtics in December 1956 after winning back-to-back NCAA titles at San Francisco and a gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics. He missed the first 24 games of his rookie year because of the Olympics; the Celtics won the title that April anyway. From 1959 to 1966 — eight straight years — Boston won every NBA championship. No team in any of the four major North American pro leagues has won eight in a row before or since.

Russell finished his career 21-0 in winner-take-all games, including 10-0 in Game 7s. The Celtics were 11-1 in the NBA Finals during his tenure — they lost only the 1958 Finals (Russell played hurt with a torn ankle ligament) before reeling off 11 titles in the next 11 attempts.

Player-coach for the last two

Red Auerbach retired from coaching in 1966 and named Russell his successor. Russell became the first Black head coach in any major American pro sport. He coached and played simultaneously for three seasons (1966-69), winning championships in 1968 and 1969 — the latter against the Wilt Chamberlain–Jerry West Lakers in seven games, with Russell averaging 38 minutes a night at age 35.

He retired immediately after Game 7. He didn’t tell anyone in the locker room. He drove home to Reading, Massachusetts, and never played another game. When the Celtics retired his #6 in 1972, Russell asked that the ceremony be held in an empty Boston Garden — he had a complicated relationship with the city’s fans and didn’t want a public moment. The number went to the rafters in private.

How the leaderboard stands

After Russell (11) and Sam Jones (10), the most-decorated players are John Havlicek, Tom Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Tom Sanders, and Frank Ramsey — all Celtics, all from the Russell era — at 8 each. The first non-Celtic on the list is Robert Horry with 7 (two with Houston, three with the Lakers, two with San Antonio).

Among modern stars: Michael Jordan went 6-for-6 in the Finals. Kobe Bryant won 5. Tim Duncan and Magic Johnson each won 5. LeBron James, Steph Curry, Larry Bird, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar each have between 3 and 6. The era of 8-team and 9-team leagues that Russell played in made title runs structurally easier; even so, no one has come within four rings of him in over half a century.

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Bill Russell and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records. Lead image via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).